WINNER’s Imagination Became a Reality

Group WINNER (YOON·HOONY·MINO·JINU) spent a more busy and glamorous 2018 than anyone else. They’ve released a full-length official album in 4 years, successfully completed an Asia tour, and recently made their second comeback of 2018 through their single ‘MILLIONS’. The song ‘MILLIONS’ is at the top ranks of music charts along with MINO’s ‘FIANCÉ’ from his first solo album, proving WINNER’s popularity. WINNER’s hope of ‘dreaming a team-kill’ prior to their comeback has now become reality.

‘MILLIONS’ is a song that contains WINNER’s warm heart towards the fans. YOON explained, “We started making the song with the message that everyone should be loved. To make our second comeback this year was our determination and our promise with the fans, so I think ‘MILLIONS’ will be a great gift”. He continued, “The song was actually made in the summer, but we tried to change things up and raise completion since it was similar to ‘REALLY REALLY’, which is why we came up with something different. It’s not a season song, but the vibes match the mood of Christmas and the year-end”.

WINNER has earned huge popularity on every song they have released from last year’s ‘REALLY REALLY’ and ‘MILLIONS’, earning YG’s representative producer YANG HYUN SUK’s trust. MINO smiled while stating, “The president takes very good care of us. He came to my solo MV shooting and stayed from start to finish. Even this time, he stayed for 3 days and directed the scene He used to criticize us more than he praised us, but now he praises us a lot like, ‘Good, great job’”.

YOON stated, “He praises us a lot in our group chat room, and he focuses more during our comeback season. I think he feels at ease since we’re older compared to iKON and BLACKPINK. I can feel that when he makes jokes when he sends messages”. MINO added, “I call him ‘president YANG’, but I intend to call him ‘brother YANG’ soon when he’s in good mood”.

While the news that the MV for ‘REALLY REALLY’ has surpassed 100 million views is good news, it also means that the image of ‘WINNER=REALLY REALLY’ is still prominent among the public. YOON stated, “I couldn’t believe it, and I felt grateful”. He added, “It’s also a mountain we should surpass. We should be showing something new, but we do feel pressured by the burden. That’s why we continue to focus on our music without break”. He also emphasized, “We had a good timing and a lot of luck when we released ’REALLY REALLY’ so it won’t be easy to surpass the successful achievements of the song, but we’ll be satisfied if we hear ‘WINNER is making something new’ instead of being hidden by its shade”.

The group’s Asia tour which started in Seoul during the summer has finally ended on the 24th, after their performances in Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, Jakarta, and Hong Kong. They will use this momentum to start their North America tour in 7 cities including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and Toronto, Canada starting from January 15th next year.

YOON stated, “We’ll continue our activities until the beginning of next year, so we want more communication with the fans. We will release WINNER’s official album after our North America tour and prepare for our solo projects. We hope we can achieve many things we aim for next year”.